Objective 3Community engagement

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Queensland Road Safety Week

Queensland Road Safety Week (22–28 August 2016) provided an opportunity to prompt conversations about the role we all play in keeping our roads safe. In partnership with the Queensland Police Service, over 700 local activities and events ran across the state with the theme 'Speak up for road safety'.

Each day was dedicated to a different theme – distractions, speed, fatigue, seatbelts and child restraints, sharing the road, and drink and drug driving.

A range of resources and materials were distributed to local communities including kits for schools and workplaces. A school art competition encouraged primary school students to consider what road safety in their town means to them, with five winners receiving an iPad for them and their school. Extensive publicity and social media yielded strong engagement in the community.

Safer Roads, Safer Queensland Forum

In December 2016, we held the fourth Safer Roads, Safer Queensland forum in Brisbane. This forum built on the success of the three previous forums which shaped the development of the Queensland Road Safety Strategy 2015–2021 and Queensland's Road Safety Action Plan 2015–17.

A wide range of industry and community leaders attended, drawn from research institutions, transport sector, state government and law enforcement agencies and young people from the community. The focus of this forum was reducing serious road trauma.

Professor Narelle Haworth, panel chair of the Serious Injury Expert Panel presented the roadmap for reducing serious injuries in Queensland, which focussed on the following 'top five' areas:

Safer Urban Cities and Intersections

Safer Roadsides

Safer Vehicles

Safer Behaviours

Data and Research.

As a result of the forum a number of ideas were put forward for consideration in the next Queensland Road Safety Action Plan 2017–19.

Engaging with the community on road safety

Strategic partnerships were formed with Queensland Cricket, Brisbane Bullets and V8 Supercars. This enabled us to reach new communities with our road safety messages and engage with the community both online and at sporting events and activities.

TMR once again supported Yellow Ribbon National Road Safety Week (8–14 May 2017) which coincided with UN Global Road Safety Week in 2017. Strong engagement occurred through social media where people were encouraged to make a pledge to drive safely and slow down. Prominent landmarks were lit up in yellow around Australia, including the Story Bridge and Brisbane City Hall.

TMR sponsored the Australian Road Safety Foundation's Fatality Free Friday. The initiative aims for no road deaths on Friday 26 May. It encourages Queenslanders to keep safety top of mind every time they use the roads. The community was invited to sign TMR's inflatable cars and make their road safety pledge. Strong engagement was achieved across the community, through online and social media.

As part of Fatality Free Friday, the community was invited to make their safety pledge by signing TMR's inflatable car in King George Square

Co-Lab

'Settle Down Stallion' was the first campaign produced from the Co-Lab initiative and focussed on the dangers of speeding and risky driving behaviours. The campaign ran from June to August 2016, and has been viewed online more than 2.7 million times and reached over 4.7 million people.

Demonstrating the value in this process, we held the second state government Youth Innovative Challenge – Co-Lab, in October 2016. Around 80 young people joined forces with industry experts to find innovative solutions to make Queensland roads safer.

The winning campaign, 'Chin Up' addresses the issue of mobile phone distractions with young drivers using humour. The campaign will commence in July 2017 and will run predominately on digital channels.

Improving safety for vulnerable road users

Motorcyclists, pedestrians and bicycle riders are among Queensland's most vulnerable road users. TMR has undertaken a number of initiatives to make it safer for these groups.

This has included implementing an enhanced motorcycle licensing system to improve the safety of Queensland riders including an online education campaign.

Over $20 million was spent in 2016–17 as part of the Targeted Road Safety Program for infrastructure projects that included addressing safety for vulnerable users (motorcyclists, bicycle riders and pedestrians).

Over $12 million has been allocated to date from the Community Road Safety Grant Scheme for local community projects, including pedestrian and bicycle safety education projects, safer bicycle paths and programs targeting motorcyclists' safety.

Younger pedestrians and their families have also benefitted from the expansion of the flashing school zone signs program, with signs installed in 200 zones over the two years of the Queensland Road Safety Action Plan 2015–17.